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American History: Biographies: Abraham Baldwin 1754 1807
Baldwin was born at Guilford, Conn., in 1754, the second son of a blacksmith who fathered 12 children by 2 wives. Besides Abraham, several of the family attained distinction. His sister Ruth married the poet and diplomat Joel Barlow, and...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: Richard Bassett 1745 1815
Bassett (Basset) was born in Cecil County, MD., in April 1745. After his tavern-keeper father deserted his mother, he was reared by a relative, Peter Lawson, from whom he later inherited Bohemia Manor (MD.) estate. He read for the law at...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: Gunning Bedford, Jr. 1747 1812
Bedford was born in 1747 at Philadelphia and reared there. The fifth of seven children, he was descended from a distinguished family that originally settled in Jamestown, VA. He usually referred to himself as Gunning Bedford, Jr., to...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: John Blair 1732 1800
Scion of a prominent Virginia family, Blair was born at Williamsburg in 1732. He was the son of John Blair, a colonial official and nephew of James Blair, founder and first president of the College of William and Mary. Signer Blair...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: William Blount 1749 1800
William Blount was the great-grandson of Thomas Blount, who came from England to Virginia soon after 1660 and settled on a North Carolina plantation. William, the eldest in a large family, was born in 1749 while his mother was visiting...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: David Brearly 1745 1790
Brearly (Brearley) was descended from a Yorkshire, England, family, one of whose members migrated to New Jersey around 1680. Signer Brearly was born in 1745 at Spring Grove near Trenton, was reared in the area, and attended but did not...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: Edmund Burke (1729 1797)
British statesman, parliamentary orator and political thinker, played a prominent part in all major political issues for about 30 years after 1765, and remained an important figure in the history of political theory.
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: George Walker Bush (1946 )
George W. Bush is the 43rd President of the United States. He was sworn into office January 20, 2001, after a campaign in which he outlined sweeping proposals to reform America's public schools, transform our national defense, provide...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: Pierce Butler 1744 1822
One of the most aristocratic delegates at the convention, Butler was born in 1744 in County Carlow, Ireland. His father was Sir Richard Butler, member of Parliament and a baronet.
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: Henry Carey 1793 1879
Henry Carey was the eldest son of Mathew Carey, an Irish freedom fighter who was recruited to the intelligence networks established by Benjamin Franklin, and sent to Philadelphia to run what was then the largest printing operation in...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: Daniel Carroll, 1730 1796
Daniel Carroll was member of a prominent Maryland family of Irish descent. A collateral branch was led by Charles Carroll of Carrollton, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Daniel's older brother was John Carroll, the first Roman...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: William Jefferson Clinton (1946 )
Bill Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas. His father, an automobile-parts salesman, died in a car accident three months before Bill was born. His mother, Virginia Cassidy, married Roger...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: George Clymer 1739 1813
Clymer was orphaned in 1740, only a year after his birth in Philadelphia. A wealthy uncle reared and informally educated him and advanced him from clerk to full-fledged partner in his mercantile firm, which on his death he bequeathed to...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: William Richardson Davie 1756 1820
One of the eight delegates born outside of the thirteen colonies, Davie was born in Egremont, Cumberlandshire, England, on June 20, 1756. In 1763 Archibald Davie brought his son William to Waxhaw, SC, where the boy's maternal uncle,...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: Daniel Dulany Jr. (1722 1797)
Daniel Dulany of Annapolis, Maryland, had studied law in England at the Middle Temple, and was considered, at least by one fellow Marylander, Charles Carrol, to be "indisputably the best lawyer on this continent." He wrote this pamphlet,...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: Thomas Fitzsimons 1741 1811
Fitzsimons (FitzSimons; Fitzsimmons) was born in Ireland in 1741. Coming to America about 1760, he pursued a mercantile career in Philadelphia. The next year, he married Catherine Meade, the daughter of a prominent local merchant, Robert...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: Geronimo His Own Story
This website contains an overview of Geronimo's story.
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: Nicholas Gilman 1755 1814
Member of a distinguished New Hampshire family and second son in a family of eight, Nicholas Gilman was born at Exeter in 1755. He received his education in local schools and worked at his father's general store. When the War for...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: Jared Ingersoll 1749 1822
The son of Jared Ingersoll, Sr., a British colonial official and later prominent Loyalist, Ingersoll was born at New Haven, CT, in 1749. He received an excellent education and graduated from Yale in 1766. He then oversaw the financial...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: John Fitzgerald Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29th 1917 at Brookline (Massachusetts). His father Joseph Kennedy was an ambitious politician, who became from son of a pubkeeper to a millionaire. He married the daughter of the mayor of Boston,...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: John Lansing Jr. 1754 1829
On January 30, 1754, John Lansing was born in Albany, NY, to Gerrit Jacob and Jannetje Lansing. At age 21 Lansing had completed his study of the law and was admitted to practice. In 1781 he married Cornelia Ray. They had 10 children, 5...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: Abraham Lincoln
What can one say about what many average American citizens and American historians consider to be the finest president we have ever had? Abraham Lincoln has long been endeared in the hearts of all of humankind-including those southerners...
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: William Livingston 1723 1790
Livingston was born in 1723 at Albany, NY. His maternal grandmother reared him until he was 14, and he then spent a year with a missionary among the Mohawk Indians. He attended Yale and graduated in 1741.
University of Groningen
American History: Biographies: James Madison (1751 1836)
The oldest of 10 children and a scion of the planter aristocracy, Madison was born in 1751 at Port Conway, King George County, VA, while his mother was visiting her parents. In a few weeks she journeyed back with her newborn son to...